If you already know what NWOBHM stands for, skip ahead to the songs. We'll catch up in a bit.
The NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) was, simply put, Heavy Metal's reaction to Punk. A new generation of bands took Punk's DIY ethos to heart and began cranking out independent singles and EPs at an astonishing rate. If a town had enough long-haired herberts so support a biker pub then they probably had at least one band dreaming of a Friday Rock Show session. Many never got further than flogging a 7" out of the back of a transit van after playing yet another toilet but a few went on to do very nicely indeed and it's fair to say that today's metal scene owes a lot to the NWOBHM in all sorts of ways. Just ask Lars Ulrich.
As with the AOR post, I've deliberately omitted the NWOBHM's Big Three. Joe Elliott gets very cross if you call Def Leppard NWOBHM while if you don't know who Iron Maiden and Saxon are, you probably stopped reading once the words "Heavy Metal" cropped up. So here's ten of my favourite tracks from an era that changed Heavy Metal forever.
Trespass - Stormchild (1980)
A classy band that really should have gone further .
Here's a majestic track off the semi-legendary Metal For Muthas II sampler .
Dammit, I love that intro.
Honour to: IvanFinestreNWOBHM
Baseline - Suspended Animation (1981)
A band I'd never even heard of until 6 months ago and I've been cranking
this song ever since. Youtube really does throw up some treasures sometimes.
Honour to: Rostere
Jameson Raid - Catcher In The Rye (1979)
The production isn't exactly state of the art but these Brummies still manage to
pull off this quirky, driving ode to quiet desperation. Recently reformed.
Honour to: psychotron9
Hammer - Caution To The Wind (1985)
A Cleveland band with an album cover that suggests a much darker band than in reality.
You can't help noticing that Heavy Metal started playing a lot more fast songs after
Punk changed the rules. Like this powerful little number that sees the keyboard
player trading licks with the guitarist for the solo. Marvellous.
Honour to; paradisebeyond1982
Talking of fast...
Tysondog - Taste The Hate (1986)
I have no idea what they were putting in the water in the North East but not only did
the ridiculously fertile local scene spawn a small army of bands, the likes of Venom, Raven,
Warfare and the curiously named Tysondog came up with a sound that was fast, nasty and
right up in yer face, ready to deliver a headbutt. You could argue that Geordies created Thrash Metal.
Incidentally you might want to track down another Tysondog track - the one minute, ten seconds of lunacy that is "T.W.A.T"
Honour to: inmoderate
Fist - The Watcher (1980)
More Tynesiders but much more melodic this time around. IMHO an underrated
outfit with a pair of underrated guitarists, seen here to good effect on this track.
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Honour to: FoggySpruce
(Although there were worse - Ethel The Frog? Really?)
On this track they put their heads down and go for it, culminating in one of those frenzied solos
where the guitarist is always on the verge of losing control and quite possibly a finger.
Honour to; montooken
A catchy track from the Friday Rock Show sampler.
Honour to: IvanStryper
I'm always a sucker for a good guitar duel and on this tasty bit of Quo-fistfighting-Skynyrd
guitar boogie the boys are going toe to toe, sneering "Is that all you got."
Honour to; RekifuneRiver
Pre-John Sykes
John Sykes
Post-John Sykes.
Others may quibble but I love the two albums Sykes did with TOPT before he went on
to bigger and better things with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. Here's why:
Honour to: BarbaricBulldog
Bitches Sin - Ain't Life a Bitch? (1985)
A Cumbrian band with a name that probably did them no favours(Although there were worse - Ethel The Frog? Really?)
On this track they put their heads down and go for it, culminating in one of those frenzied solos
where the guitarist is always on the verge of losing control and quite possibly a finger.
Black Axe - Edge Of The World (1981)
How often do you get to hear two bands from Cumbria? Especially good ones?A catchy track from the Friday Rock Show sampler.
Taurus - Paper Chaser (1980)
A band that only managed a single outing on vinyl and that was another Friday Rock Show sampler.I'm always a sucker for a good guitar duel and on this tasty bit of Quo-fistfighting-Skynyrd
guitar boogie the boys are going toe to toe, sneering "Is that all you got."
And finally
Tygers Of Pan Tang - Love Don't Stay (1981)
You can neatly divide the Tygers' career into three sections.Pre-John Sykes
John Sykes
Post-John Sykes.
Others may quibble but I love the two albums Sykes did with TOPT before he went on
to bigger and better things with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. Here's why:
For this list I sat down and listed the first ten songs that came to mind and it says a lot about how much great music came out of this era that there's at least a dozen songs I could have posted instead.
So, honourable mentions to: Demon, Raven, Wolf, Marseille, White Spirit, Quartz, Triarchy, Samson, Slender Thread, Dark Star, Praying Mantis, Rock Goddess, Girlschool, Oxym and anyboy else that's almost certainly going to pop back into my memory going "Hey. I'm an awesome song. Why didn't you post me, numbnuts?"
So, honourable mentions to: Demon, Raven, Wolf, Marseille, White Spirit, Quartz, Triarchy, Samson, Slender Thread, Dark Star, Praying Mantis, Rock Goddess, Girlschool, Oxym and anyboy else that's almost certainly going to pop back into my memory going "Hey. I'm an awesome song. Why didn't you post me, numbnuts?"
Edit: I came back and played with this post, reinstalling some vids that had fallen off.
That's all folks.
That's all folks.
My first real metal gig was SAXON at Brighton conference centre, (captured on the live album "The Eagle Has Landed") They were supported by RIOT, and during the support set the security were walking nonchalantly up and down in front of the stage.
ReplyDeleteTwo minutes before the mighty Biff Byford and his lads turned up, the bouncers were ramming earplugs in, and would only walk past the speaker stacks during their performance to pull unconscious headbangers over the barricades.
The bass player set fire to his instrument at one point, then span it round on a pivot on the strap like a propeller.
As we were on the left of the stage, at the front, looking right for two hours, I was deaf in my left ear for about three days after.
I still have the unwearably uncomfortable leather studded wristband I bought at the gig.
Some great memories here, cheers.
Have you done METAL RENDEZVOUS by Krokus yet? "Back Seat Radio" and "Tokyo Nights" were part of my youthful headbanging soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteI have a Krokus patch on my denim vest and (somewhere) a yellow vinyl 12" of "Tokyo Nights" So if I ever do an 80s Euro Metal post Krokus are going to be in there - along with Accept and Helloween. Who else? Let me go and think about it.
DeleteMan, you sure do come up with some interesting bands, stuff I've never heard of before! Out of all these, I liked Baseline the best.
ReplyDeleteHi Big D, I'm guessing as a big NWOBHM fan you were also an occasional listener to Tommy Vance's legendary Friday Rock Show which featured many of these fine bands in session? If so, you may be interested to hear I am currently preparing a book on Tommy Vance and the Friday Rock Show, which will contain memories of listeners, musicians and those who knew Tommy personally.
ReplyDeleteThe book is endorsed by Tommy's daughter Jessie and all profits from the book will be going to a stroke charity nominated by Jessie.
As part of my research, I'm attempting to contact as many listeners to the Friday Rock Show to get their memories for the book and I'd be delighted if you could get in touch with me with some of your memories.
There is a Facebook group for the book at https://www.facebook.com/groups/337404213130939/ or you can email me direct at tvfridayrockshow@gmail.com
Many thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Rock On!